


Beginnings

by amerasu1013 (amerasu_1013)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Children, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Gen, Kid Fic, M/M, Steve & Bucky as kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-08
Updated: 2015-05-08
Packaged: 2018-03-29 12:51:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3897025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amerasu_1013/pseuds/amerasu1013
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky smiles back, all nice and sweet, and says that Stevie is his best friend, too, and Stevie grins because he really, really likes hearing that. Bucky is great, he’s the best, he always plays with Stevie even when there’s other kids around and almost always gives him some of his chocolate if he has some and last year he punched Dewie on the nose – on the nose! – when Dewie took Stevie’s book when he was looking at the pictures and didn’t want to give it back.</p><p>a.k.a. the self-indulgent kid!fic. Where Stevie is five and small and skinny and Bucky is a little big bigger (only a little bit!) and punches a lot of people.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> I'm working on a Dark!Steve story that does not want to behave, so I needed to relax and write some tooth-rottingly sweet, fluffy, self-indulgent kid fic instead. This is it. Um. They're tiny and adorable?
> 
> WARNING: the "gen" and "m/m" tags are there for a reason. At the end there's some slashy hints, not explicit, just... there. And no, they are NOT kids when the slashy hints happen, don't be scared. They are 5 for most of this story, but the very end takes place a looong time afterwards. 
> 
> Oh, and as usual: English is not my native tongue and this is unbetaed. Please point out any mistakes!  
> And: Aside from mean old Mrs Delancey across the hall I don't own any of the characters herein, I'm just playing with them for my own amusement. That maybe sounds kind of wrong, given that it's a kid fic.
> 
> PS: Excuse the title, I could not come up with ANYTHING. It's 2 in the morning here. But I'm open to suggestions?

 

“Shhh!” Stevie whispers and inches forwards. “Shh, be quiet!”

Bucky pokes him in the back, tip-toeing along behind him. “You be quiet!”

“I am!” Stevie whispers loudly, “you’re the one talking all the time!”

“Am not!” Bucky sounds offended.

“Shh!” Stevie repeats, nervously keeping his ears open for any sound from the living room.

Bucky huffs, still annoyed, and pokes him again. “Go on, they’re watching TV, they can’t hear a thing.”

They both listen for a second. They can faintly hear the TV’s sounds through the walls, and there’s the little bell sound, which means the news have just started, which is great. Because that means Bucky’s parents will be busy for the next 15 minutes, watching a boring man talk about boring stuff like the economy or politics. Stevie only has a faint idea what those things are, the candy shop is some kind of economy his Dad says – and also it’s _awesome_! – and politics is something boring. Grown-ups like weird stuff sometimes.

Anyway, the parents are watching the news, which means Stevie and Bucky can do what they have planned, which is awesome, because they thought about it all afternoon and really want to do it and now’s a very good time. So Stevie sneaks across the room, Bucky behind him, his heart beating a little faster now, because oh! This is exciting! Stevie starts to grin really wide and Bucky grins back and there’s the crib and everything’s quiet in the room and Stevie is so excited he’s kind of shaking with it.

The crib is really big and Stevie is still really little, so he can’t see inside, but Baby Rebecca is sleeping, he knows that, because earlier he watched Bucky’s Mom give her a bath and put her in the crib and anyways, Becky is really loud when she’s awake, so she has to be sleeping. And he still can’t see inside because he’s little, but there’s a chair in the corner, so he starts dragging it over. It screeches across the floor, real loud, and Bucky says “Shh!” real loud too and then he shoves Stevie away and picks up the chair to carry it over.

Stevie frowns and rubs his shoulder, because that kind of hurt, and it’s unfair that Bucky is so much taller and stronger than him, he’s not even _that_ much older, and he could have done it himself, honest! But his Mom says he’s gonna grow and be as tall as Bucky is soon, he’s gonna make a growth spurt or something soon, but isn’t that something runners do? At the Olympics? Anyway he’ll not be little for long, his Mom says, and now Bucky has moved the chair next to the crib and yeah, maybe Stevie really couldn’t have done it himself, because the chair’s really heavy and Bucky’s kind of out of breath now.

So Stevie smiles at his friend and says thank-you and clambers up on the chair. And Bucky climbs up next to him and kind of puts his arm around Stevie so he won’t fall down because the chair is kind of narrow. And Stevie likes him a lot, because once he fell off a chair and broke his pinky and that hurt real bad and it’s real nice that Bucky keeps him from falling again. And then Bucky even gives him the charcoal! “You do it, Stevie,” he says, “you’re much better at this than me!”

Stevie goes red and is a little embarrassed but also kind of really pleased and takes the charcoal and smiles at Bucky. “You’re my best friend!” He tells him and doesn’t even really know why he says it.

Bucky smiles back, all nice and sweet, and says that Stevie is his best friend, too, and Stevie grins because he really, really likes hearing that. Bucky is great, he’s the best, he always plays with Stevie even when there’s other kids around and almost always gives him some of his chocolate if he has some and last year he punched Dewie on the nose – on the _nose_! – when Dewie took Stevie’s book when he was looking at the pictures and didn’t want to give it back. And Bucky punched him right on his nose and then Dewie ran away crying and Stevie kind of felt bad, but not a lot because Dewie is mean and he always makes fun of the smaller kids. And then Bucky and Stevie looked at the pictures together and Stevie didn’t feel bad anymore.

And now Bucky gives Stevie the charcoal and tells him he should do it and Bucky’s his very best friend. And then Stevie does it and they stand there, on the chair, looking down into the crib –

And then Bucky starts giggling and it makes Stevie start giggling and now they’re kind of holding onto each other because they are laughing so hard and Baby Becky scrunches up her tiny, tiny nose and frowns a tiny frown, looking so funny and this just makes them laugh harder.

Then Stevie distantly hears another bell from the TV, which means the news are over. The living room is at the other end of the hallway, but the doors are open and they can hear Uncle George say something and then Aunt Winifred is laughing and then, then! She’s saying she wants to check on the baby!

“Come on come on come on!” Bucky hurries Stevie when they run from the room, which doesn’t help and also is annoying because Stevie is running as fast as he can! And Bucky takes his hand and pulls him to make him go faster and he throws open the front door and races out into the hallway. Stevie lives right next door, so that’s where they are going, they’ll hide in Stevie’s room and pretend like they never did anything and it’s not bed-time yet anyway, so Bucky can stay over some more.

Stevie has just opened the door to his apartment when they hear –

“James Buchanan Barnes!”

Bucky’s eyes get real wide and kind of scared, but he starts giggling again anyway. Stevie stares back at him, equally scared – oh no!

“Stephen Grant Rogers!”

Stevie starts laughing himself, he can’t help it, and pulls Bucky through the door to his apartment.

“Did you little demons draw a mustache on the baby’s face?!”

Stevie throws the door closed behind them and falls back against it, giggling so hard his sides hurt. Bucky flops down on the floor next to him, hiccupping with laughter. “That,” he says and wipes tears from his eyes, “was _awesome_!”

And it really was.

 

***

 

Stevie and Bucky have been best friends _forever_.

Okay, no, he’s lying a little bit. Not forever, because forever’s a really long time and Stevie is only five years old and forever is longer than that. He’s almost six, though! But they’ve been best friends a long time, almost all of Stevie’s life. Their parents say they became friends right when they first saw each other, which was back when Stevie was almost still a baby and he doesn’t really remember that, because he was really little. Their parents like to tell the story, and Bucky pretends like he remembers it but he’s lying because he was little back then, too! But still bigger than Stevie and that’s unfair. Stevie is still sure Bucky is just pretending he remembers it.

Anyway, their parents tell it like this:

So Bucky and Bucky’s Mom and Dad (Rebecca wasn’t there yet, she’s a _new_ baby) moved into the apartment next door and Stevie’s Mom and Dad were really excited because they had just moved in too and Mrs Delancey from across the hall was really mean. Still is, Stevie’s Dad says she’s an old hag, and Mom hit him on the shoulder like she was shocked when he said that and told Stevie he mustn’t say bad things like that and Stevie promised and Mom said he’s her good boy and gave him a cookie, but Mrs Delancey is still mean. One time she hit him with her umbrella when he was just playing in the hallway, which hurt and she’s _mean_. Anyway Stevie’s parents were glad to maybe meet some nice people and went over to say say hi to Bucky’s Mom and Dad and welcome to the building and come by for coffee sometime. And Bucky’s parents were glad too and said hi back and came by for coffee and brought Bucky.

And Stevie was still little back then and his Mom said they were kind of nervous because Bucky is older and they didn’t know if he would be nice to Stevie who was almost still only a baby and Stevie was sick a lot back then and people always had to be careful with him. So they made Bucky sit on the couch and eat cake and be quiet. And they had cake and Bucky was real quiet and Stevie was in his room in his crib (which is Becky’s crib now, because Stevie has a _bed_ now, he’s not a baby anymore and his Dad calls him big guy). Then they noticed that Bucky wasn’t just quiet, he wasn’t even there anymore!

They looked all around and didn’t find him and then they did and he was in Stevie’s room. And Stevie’s Mom took pictures because she says they looked so sweet, because: Bucky was lying in the crib next to Stevie and was holding Stevie’s stuffed monkey and making monkey noises for Stevie and Stevie wasn’t sick at all, he was laughing a lot. And Bucky played with all of Stevie’s stuffed animals where Stevie could see and made him laugh and Stevie’s Mom says that finally after days Stevie finally got some roses in his cheeks (he doesn’t know what that means, you can’t eat roses, can you?) and Stevie forgot he was sick and got better real fast.

And that’s how they became friends.

 

***

 

Stevie loves Bucky, like a lot, almost more than chocolate. Because Bucky’s always, always playing with him, every day, his Mom says that if she can’t find Stevie, she just knows he’s over in Bucky’s room and Dad says that sometimes he thinks he and Uncle George should just make a hole in the wall between Stevie’s and Bucky’s rooms and put a door there because that would be easier. Which is a great idea, Stevie thinks, a really great idea, and Bucky thinks so too, but Dad says that you can’t just make holes in walls if you rent an apartment (which is different than when you own an apartment?) and so they have to walk across the hall all the time. It’s not far, though, so that’s okay.

And Bucky’s Mom lets Stevie call her Aunt Winifred (or Auntie Fred, but Fred is a name for a man and she’s not a man!) and always kisses him a lot and gives him cake and tells him he’s almost like a second son for her. Which is real nice and Stevie loves her a lot, too (but he still loves his Mom the best).

They play a lot, he and Bucky, with his Legos and Bucky’s Legos and sometimes they mix them up and build really tall castles and play like they are knights and Uncle George made them real swords and shields from wood and Stevie painted them himself and his Dad only helped a little. And they play outside and Bucky’s always careful so Stevie doesn’t get wet when it’s raining and makes him go back inside because he still gets sick a lot and that’s just dumb. And they build forts where the trees are and there’s a little river for boats and one time Bucky ate a beetle and then got really sick and threw up and it was so gross but _funny_.

And when Stevie’s sick and has to lie in bed and isn’t allowed to get up and is supposed to stay warm, Bucky comes and still plays with him (quietly, like Stevie’s Mom says) and they look at Stevie’s picture books together and Bucky brings him cake Aunt Winifred made for him and tea Stevie’s Mom made for him. And when Stevie’s really cold Bucky cuddles him and that’s almost as nice as when his Mom cuddles him. Once Bucky even brought him flowers, like you’re supposed to do with sick people. Bucky picked them himself, outside, and they were only a little bit crushed. But they made his pillow really dirty and now Stevie’s Mom says they are not allowed to have flowers in the bed anymore, so Bucky hasn’t brought him any ever again, which is sad. They smelled so nice!

But Bucky always takes care of him, even when Stevie’s not sick. He gives him all his peas at dinner, because he knows Stevie likes them (Bucky doesn’t, he says they look like frog eyes, which isn’t true at all). And when mean old Mrs Delancey from across the hall took away his stick that one time, the stick he needs to reach the elevator button for the floor where he lives, Bucky made him a new one and stuck out his tongue at Mrs Delancey and even called her a really bad word. But only real quiet, so he wouldn’t get into trouble. And he punches people all the time for Stevie, because he gets picked on a lot – he’s real small and skinny and he can read better than almost every kid in their house, and they sometimes don’t like it when he says stuff like “apparently” or “fascinating” because they are stupid and mean and then Stevie gets picked on. And then Bucky punches them, which is awesome but also kind of not, because it’s unfair that Stevie is so little and if he tries to punch people, it doesn’t work and that’s unfair, too. But Bucky tells him he’s being stupid (but he doesn’t tell it in a mean way, it’s still kind of sounds nice?) and Bucky just wants to help him and then Stevie sighs and grumbles but says okay.

Anyway, Bucky always takes care of him and gives him stuff and punches people for him and Stevie… Stevie loves it, but it also makes him kind of sad. Because Stevie doesn’t think he takes care of Bucky enough, and aren’t friends supposed to take care of _each other_? And Stevie can’t punch people because he’s still little and Bucky is way bigger and almost nobody picks on him anyway. And Bucky is never sick, so Stevie can’t take care of him when he’s sick, because he _never is_!

So Stevie is sad and stays in his room and doesn’t come out, even when his Mom calls and says there’s cookies. And he hides in his bed and is sad and his Mom comes to see where he is and then, then he’s suddenly _crying_ and he doesn’t _want_ to, crying is for _babies_ , and he’s not a _baby_! But his Mom takes him in her arms and says “Shh, my angel”, which is nice and she smells good and is warm and then maybe Stevie stops crying. And she makes him tell her why he’s sad and doesn’t laugh at him – he was a little afraid, because it’s stupid, isn’t it? But she says it isn’t and says she loves him and his Mom is the _best_. And then she tells him it’s Bucky’s birthday next week and how about Stevie gives him a real special gift?

And oh! Stevie knows the perfect gift, there’s a new robot toy that Bucky talks about all the time and it can even walk and talk and say stuff like “Danger! Danger!” and all sorts of things and that’s a real special gift, right? Because Bucky wants it real bad? Stevie’s Mom laughs and says, sure, they can buy that for Bucky if Stevie thinks it’s a good idea (it’s a _great_ idea!), but she meant something more personal. Something that only Stevie could give his friend and he doesn’t have any idea what she means. But then Stevie’s Mom gets up and picks up his sketch block and his crayons and oh, this is great! Stevie yells real loud because he’s real happy now and his Mom laughs again and kisses his head and he doesn’t even notice, because: Stevie is gonna draw Bucky a picture, a really great one, this will be an awesome gift and really personal, too, because Stevie is really good at drawing.

And then it’s Bucky’s birthday and there’s cake and they have a little party and Stevie gives Bucky the robot and Bucky is really happy with it and makes it walk around and say “Danger!” and “Weapons activate!” and all sorts of things and then the other children leave and it’s only Stevie and Bucky left and Stevie is really nervous.

Because he didn’t want to give Bucky the drawing when the other kids were there, because what if they made fun of it? His parents always say he’s really good at drawing, he’s a little artist, but what if they just say that to be nice to him? And what if… what if Bucky doesn’t like it? And now Stevie is scared and kind of wants to hide but his Mom smiles at him and nods and says “my brave boy” really quiet so only he can hear. So he swallows and tries to be a brave boy and gives Bucky the picture (it’s only a little crumpled) and then he really wants to hide. Because Bucky opens it and –

See, at first Stevie didn’t really know what he wanted to draw. He made a little Bucky in the middle of the page and then didn’t know what else to make. But then he had lots of ideas and some really great ones, too. So he drew Bucky and lots of stuff from Bucky’s life: his family and the house where they live and Mrs Delancey from across the hall trapped in the elevator (that happened once and it was awesome, because she’s mean and they could hear her yell from two floors down) and the beetle Bucky ate and their fort and their swords and shields and a birthday cake with a lot of candles. And a couple of girls with little hearts over their heads because girls always want to kiss Bucky, even if he yells at them to stop because girls are gross, but that’s something from Bucky’s life, too, right?

And Stevie drew himself when he was sick in bed with flowers all over his bed and then he drew a plane with Bucky and Steve looking out from the windows, because Bucky and his Mom and Dad lived in Russia before they came here. Russia is really far away, so far you can’t even drive there, you have to take a plane and it takes hours and hours. Stevie doesn’t know much about Russia, but in one of his books there’s a picture of a bear and a sort of castle with really weird round roofs that have lots of colors and it’s called a Gremlin and so he tried to draw that. And some penguins, because Uncle George always says it was really cold back there and penguins live where it’s cold.

And Stevie drew a bunch of other stuff too, and now Bucky’s looking at all of it and Stevie is nervous and scared and what if he doesn’t like it? Or what if he can’t even tell what Stevie drew? Sometimes people have to ask what it is when they look at Stevie’s pictures, mostly grown-ups though, and he tried real hard to draw everything the best he could, but what if? Stevie feels like crying now and Bucky’s still staring at the picture and this is _horrible_!

But now Bucky is looking up and right at Stevie and then, and then – he throws his arms around Stevie and squeezes him really hard, so that it almost hurts and says thank you and thank you and thank you about a million times. And then he runs to his parents and shows them the picture and starts telling them about every single thing Stevie drew and he can tell what everything is and doesn’t have to ask Stevie even once.

Stevie stands there and watches and smiles so much his face feels weird and he feels like he could jump up and down with joy, so he does.

And the next day Bucky shows him where Uncle George put Stevie’s drawing on the wall, right over Bucky’s bed, so he can always look at it. Uncle George even put it in a frame, like the real pictures in the living room, like it’s from a museum! Bucky hugs him again and Stevie hugs him back and they both say thank you and then they laugh. They start playing with the robot toy and Bucky keeps looking up at Stevie’s picture and smiles a lot and says this is the best birthday present ever and Stevie is the best friend in the whole universe and Stevie is so, so glad.

 

***

 

Many, many years later, when Steve has long outgrown the name Stevie but Bucky still prefers that to James, when they move in together…

When they have unpacked the first boxes and looked around their – their! – place with wide eyes and minds full of _freedom_ and the _future_ and their future _together_ …

When Bucky sneaks kisses from Steve where he’s sorting _their_ kitchen stuff into various drawers and Steve returns the favor while Bucky assembles _their_ dining table…

When Steve’s finished sorting kitchen stuff and thinks about what they should have for dinner and goes to find Bucky where he’s unpacking their clothes in their bedroom…

When he opens the door and the first thing he sees, right across from him, above the bed is his drawing from so long ago, still in its frame, colors still bright and cheerful.

When Steve sees that he kisses Bucky and doesn’t ever want to stop.

Later they look at it together and Bucky starts talking about what Stevie drew there – and he still knows every single detail.

 

**THE END/THE BEGINNING**

 


End file.
